Business is Business

Business is Business

I hope all of you enjoyed Mother’s Day. I have to say it was probably one of my best Mother’s Day that I have had in a while with my kids.

Briana and I started the day with a four mile walk around our local lake, stopped for an egg breakfast afterwards, headed down to Newport Beach for a few hours, and then went back to my house for a BBQ with close friends. It was Mike's first time back at the house for a few months, so it was great to have my two kids, the two dogs and Troy together. The kids swam, while I grilled pork tenderloin, filet mignon, and grilled vegetables and made a nice big salad. It was one of those days that I felt completely at peace and without stress and really just enjoyed he moment and felt grateful for my blessings.

Now, onto a recap of this weeks episode. When Lydia and Heather picked me up from LAX, I had just flown in from Atlanta which left at 6:45 am east coast time (3:45 am pacific time), had been flying for four hours, had been gone three days at an insurance conference and was exhausted. I was not "up" to going to Malibu, as I had pretty much decided not to continue to do any appearances or events with Tamra due to our ongoing friendship issues. Chris, our business partner, felt it was important for me to go so I did. Hindsight, I probably should have stayed back. I told Chris about my concerns of being around Tamra because of our unresolved issues, and he assured me she would be fine and it was strictly business and there would be no conflict.
Since I had already picked out my wines for the next six months, I had a lack of interest in even being there as my job had already been done. I wanted to go and support Tamra choosing her wines, but truthfully I think she was more into drinking the wines than she was really picking out a wine of the month for our club.

If your interested in becoming a member, WinesbyWives.com for more information. It’s so easy to join, and our members love getting to taste our wine of the month and what each of us chose as our favorite.

When Tamra asked me if that weekend I was free to go to Malibu on a wine tasting trip, I told her I would just be flying in from Atlanta. I said the girls would have to pick me up at LAX and that I had a commitment on Sunday night with my staff at a dinner/play. She knew perfectly well a month prior to even going that I had a commitment, and truthfully I was one-and-a-half hours late to it due to my fear of "leaving too early." When she came out after me and called me "bitch". . .I was like "REALLY!?! You're going to go there now and act this way in front of all these people?" It was so embarrassing for me as it wasn't necessary for her to get upset. My wines had already been chosen, and her and Eddie were and smoochy woochy with Gretchen and Slade, which meant there was no reason for me to be there anymore anyways. Work was done -- and they were just playing and drinking together when I decided to leave.

When Tamra referenced the difference between Vicki’s Vodka (that we will be launching soon) and Wines by Wives and how I was more involved in my vodka –- that was just ridiculous. Tamra knows very well that I am involved in WBW as much as she is. When she asked me about putting Wines by Wives in Vegas I knew she was just trying to cause a fight. One has nothing to do with the other. The WBW is a monthly club membership; it is not a retail wine, so how the heck could she think I can put it in casinos/restaurants like I could with my own vodka brand?It’s a joke how she tried to throw me under the bus without even knowing what she was saying. One is a wine membership and one is a consumable vodka brand. Geesh. It's frustrating to always try and explain and pick up the pieces after she speaks.

I am a business woman, and business is business. I told Chris Gravagna (our partner in WBW) that I completely support and agree with the WBW brand and our mission, however I would be mostly behind the scenes managing and supporting our company. I did not become part owners of this company to have it take me away from my Coto Insurance company, nor from my vodka launch. He assured me that it wouldn't and that I could do it all -- which made me very happy and and the whole thing very doable.

When I was checking into the hotel, my emotions hit me off guard as and I had gotten so teary eyed. I travel for business almost every week and check into hotels all the time by myself. I think it was because it was a couple's trip, which made it different for me. Like I said in this episode, I had been married all of my adult life, and going on couples' trip and being single was not something that I had been not used to nor liked. I’m sure some of you can relate to that -- it takes some time to get used to. When I saw Gretchen’s interview making fun of me, it just made me get mad. I mean who is she to talk about being alone? She can’t even make a cup of coffee without calling Slade much less could she travel on a couples' trip without him. It’s just so rude of her to not put herself in my shoes for once. She’s just always got such a negative attitude towards me and everyone else lately that makes me wonder what made her and her life so perfect that she can cut down mine? Ugh so frustrating and such a negative girl lately.

Now onto Terry and Heather who I absolutely adore. As you viewers can probably tell, they seemed to be a little “off” so far this season. I want you to know though, as dear friends of theirs, they are more solid than ever. Terry is a great husband, loves Heather and from what I have seen will do ANYTHING to make their marriage work -- even apologizing when sometimes he doesn’t need to. It’s tough putting your life out there for the world to see, and my advice to them is to keep each other a priority, don’t go to bed angry, kiss each other daily, listen to one another, love one another and don’t use the word divorce as an option. . .and everything else will fall into place.

I referenced a little bit about the bricks and how to tear them down when they start building up. I actually learned this from Brooks. One of the best things about my relationship with him, is we talk. We talk about everything, and we try to learn from our past mistakes so we don’t have them enter into our relationship. It actually made sense when I looked back at my relationship with Donn and some past employees that I had worked with for years. I had been so hurt for so many years by things that had happened between us and we never talked about it. We pushed it “under that rug” that Tamra talked about -- and before you knew it we had a brick wall between us. We couldn’t see each other, we didn’t touch, we didn’t kiss, we never spoke about our issues and we became strangers in our own home together. Neither one of us wanted a divorce, but it had gone on so long we just couldn’t find a way to get our love back. I don’t wish that on Terry and Heather, or any married couple for that matter. So, if there’s anything to take away from on this, is simply to break that brick when it starts to build and you will never have that wall between each other. Got it!?! Good!

I want to thank everyone for your continued prayers for Ryan in Afghanistan. Briana is sending him the episodes and he and some of his friends have been able to watch it on his laptop and have really enjoyed seeing how it’s come to real life TV after filming for six months. Ryan is scheduled to come home around October or November, and we pray it is even sooner. Briana and Troy have maintained well without him, but it’s tough on her. Raising a baby as a single mother is hard but she’s doing a fabulous job and I couldn’t be more proud of her. Troy is almost eight months old and just about ready to start crawling. He has been an amazing blessing to our family and we love him so much.

I’m happy to hear of the savings that some of you have received by using your discount prescription card that we sent you and I am happy to hear of the savings you have received. That makes me happy to know I am helping others with their costly prescription expenses. If anyone would like a FREE discount prescription card that can be used in almost every major pharmacy, please email us your address at linda@cotoinsurance.com and we will email several to you. Some of the savings have been anywhere from 5 to 50 percent off the retail cost.

In closing, I hope everyone has a safe and happy summer. Please keep Coto Insurance & Financial Services (CotoInsurance.com) in mind if you are in the need for a free review of your life insurance, car or auto insurance. Also, if you have a 401K or IRA that you are no longer contributing and would like options on where to roll it over to, please email us at info@cotoinsurance.com or visit my website at CotoRetirementPlanning.com and fill out the information under contact us and someone will get back to you.
Have a great week!